No wonder prisoners of war are often subjected to sleep deprivation: it depresses them, wears down their defenses, and confuses them!

If you are a prisoner of your own schedule, which causes a self-imposed lack of sleep, it’s time to give yourself permission to eliminate an activity or two and spend some extra time snoozing. (My mother—who had 4 children—often took one-hour afternoon naps. Now I know why!)

Most likely, if you have young children or a baby, you are losing sleep involuntarily. But it’s not just newborns who keep Mom and Dad awake. As kids grow, they’re sometimes needy at night when teething or battling nightmares. Perhaps they are even sleeping well—but you’re staying awake worrying about them!

Are you getting enough rest so you can enjoy parenting while you are awake? Is there anything you can do to insure that your body is getting the sleep it needs? Sleep is so valuable you may occasionally need to call in reinforcements—perhaps to help with the kids for an hour so you can crash for awhile.

As an Amazon affiliate, book links from this site leading to Laurie's aStore, ONLY featuring books she highly recommends. A teeny tiny portion of each sale helps support the management of this blog, and may make a teeny tiny dent in education expenses for Laurie's kids. Or buy her a cup of coffee to keep up with them.

Search for:

Books written by Laurie Winslow Sargent include The Power of Parent-Child Play and Delight in Your Child's Design.